Watch crown seal



Nov. 27, 1956 E. MORF WATCH CROWN SEAL Filed July 21, 1955 "WENTORf 7//%///// WAI/AIA I A ERNEST mom BY.

United States Patent WATCH CROWN SEAL Ernest Morf, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland Application July 21, 1953, Serial No. 369,317

Claims priority, application Switzerland May 6, 1953 4 Claims. (21. 58-90) This invention relates to watertight watches, in particular to winding and hand-setting control buttons for such watches. These control buttons generally rotate around a cylindrical pipe carried by the watchcase, projecting therefrom and setting the interior in communication with the exterior of the watchcase. At the face turned towards the watchcase the button is provided with a cylindrical boring the diameter of which is larger than that of said pipe which coaxially extends within said boring.

It is an object of the invention to provide a button for watertight watches in which an element of plastic fixed to the button, still grips the pipe of the case, even after a long period, with a sufficient pressure, in order to ensure the tightness of the button.

It is also an object of the invention to choose as element of plastic a disk of easily deformable material, said disk being provided with a circular opening in the middle the diameter of which is smaller than that of said pipe, this disk seating in a large shallow cylindrical recess provided at the outer edge of the boring of the button and being deformed as to extend between the wall of the boring and the external wall of the pipe within said button, a ring being pressed into said large and shallow recess, over said disk, for gripping and keeping it on its seat, the internal diameter of this ring being larger than that of the pipe.

With these and other features as objects in view, an illustrative form of practice has been shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a button embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 shows an element of Fig. 1 before it has been set in place,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the button of Fig. 1 which is operatively set in place.

The winding and hand-setting button 1, Fig. 1 is provided at its lower face with a boring mainly consisting of a deep cylindrical recess 2 which extends almost through the whole height of the button. A tubular projection 4 integral with said button protrudes from the bottom 3 of the recess 2 and extends almost throughout and coaxially to this recess. The inner wall of the projection 4 is screw-threaded for a purpose explained hereinafter. A shallow cylindrical recess 6 of a diameter larger than that of the recess 2 is provided coaxially to the latter at its lower edge. The recess 6 forms a seat for a disk 7 of plastic, easily deformable material such as a synthetic rubber agglomerated with a lubricant. Before the disk 7 has been set in place it looks like that shown in Fig. 2. It is thin and a circular aperture 8 is provided in its middle, the diameter of this aperture being substantially comprised between three quarters and a half, preferably equal to three-fifths of that of the pipe 9 of the watchcase 10 (Fig. 3), around which the button is mounted for rotation, when it is operatively set in place. The external diameter of the plastic disk 7 is substantially so large as that of the recess 6. When setting the plastic disk 7 in place on its seat 6, it only needs its internal edge to be bent towards the inner of the recess 2, like a funnel, as shown in Fig. 1, the diameter of the aperture 8 also being smaller than that of the projection 4.

Once the disk 7 has been set in place on its seat, it may be definitely kept thereon by a metal ring 11 which is pressed with force fit over the plastic disk 7 in the recess 6. The central opening of the ring 11 has a diameter somewhat larger than that of the pipe 9. This ring 11 not only maintains the plastic disk 7 on its seat 6, but it grips the disk so strongly that the latter can by no means run away from its seat, even if it is radially urged towards the axis of the recess 2.

The thickness of the disk 7 and the ring 11 are so chosen that, when both are suitably set in place, it still remains a portion 12 of the recess 6 which may be set as shown in 13 for avoiding the ring 11 to be pushed out of the recess 6 by the resiliency of the disk 7.

Fig. 1 thus shows the button ready to be set in place around the pipe 9.

It may occur, however, that this button may be stocked for a certain period before it is finally mounted for use. In this event, the plastic disk 7 is not subjected to excessive pressures so that no wear may be noticed after stockage, the material constituting this disk thus keeping unchanged all its mechanical properties.

As previously stated, Fig. 3 shows the button of Fig. l in place around the pipe 9 of a watchcase 10. The screwthreaded tubular projection 4 is, as usually, screwed onto the threaded extremity of the winding stem, not shown in the drawing. The remaining space between the pipe 9 and the wall of the recess 2 is somewhat smaller than the thickness of the disk 7, so that the latter is gripped between said wall and said pipe. The material of this plastic disk, compressed in that way, extends upwards in Fig. 3, i. e. towards the bottom of the cylindrical recess 2. The sizes of the recess 2 as well as those of the disk 7 are so chosen that said disk will always be radially compressed in said space and grip the pipe for ensuring the tightness of the button, whatever the altered sizes of the disk may be after the variations of the conditions of temperature, pressure, etc. under which the button may be subjected in use. Thus, if the material of the disk 7 contracts, for instance under the action of one of the above-mentioned agents, the disk 7 would still be sufficiently compressed for tightly gripping the pipe 9. On the contrary, if the material of the disk 7 dilates, it could easily expand in the remaining space 14 between the disk 7 and the bottom 3 of the recess 2. The space 14 which is given such a size that it will never be filled by the material of the disk 7, thus serves as expansion chamber "for said disk. The latter is therefore not subjected to the risk of flowing already mentioned hereabove, because the material of this disk is, in the vicinity of the edges of the disk, net compressed between two perpendicnlar faces of distinct parts which do not contact each other.

When the button described has been in place around the pipe 9 a certain period and the assembly is then taken apart, for repairing the watch, for instance, the disk 7 substantially returns to the position shown in Fig. 1.

An advantage of the button described lies in the fact that its packing element may be stamped out into its definite form from a sheet or strip, in a single step, thus avoiding subsequent molding or other expensive forming operations as is the case with a sleeve provided with It is to be understood that the form of the invention,

herewith shown and described, is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention, or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. For use on a Watertight watch, in combination, a winding and setting control button having a bottom face and being formed with an annular recess extending into said button from said bottom face thereof and having next to the bottom face of said button a first recess portion of a larger diameter than a second recess portion of said annular recess extending inwardly from said first recess portion and away from the bottom face of said button, said button having an inner cylindrical surface located at the inner periphery of said annular recess and surrounded by an inner annular surface of said recess which defines said second portion of said annular recess; a tube carried by the case of the watch and projecting therefrom into said recess, said tube having an outer surface spaced from said inner annular surface of said button a given distance, and a disk of a lightly deformable material formed with a central aperture of a smaller diameter than that of said inner cylindrical surface of said button and having opposite side faces spaced from each other, when said disc is in unstressed condition, a distance greater than said given distance and an inner peripheral surface defining said aperture, said disk having an outer diameter larger than that of said second recess portion, being seated within said first recess portion, and having an inner annular peripheral portion extending through a substantial distance into said second recess portion with one of said side faces engaging said inner cylindrical surface of said button with the other of said side faces engaging said outer surface of said tube, and with said inner peripheral surface of said disk spaced from and directed toward the bottom of said second recess portion whereby said annular peripheral portion of said disk is compressed between said inner annular surface of said recess and said outer surface of said tube.

2. For use in a watertight watch, in combination, a winding and setting control button having a bottom face and being formed with an annular recess extending into said button from said bottom face thereof and having next to the bottom face of said button a first recess portion of a larger diameter than a second recess portion of said annular recess extending inwardly from said first recess portion and away from the bottom face of said button, said button having an inner cylindrical surface located at the inner periphery of said annular recess and surrounded by an inner annular surface of said recess which defines said second portion of said annular recess; a tube carried by the case of the watch and projecting therefrom into said recess, said tube having an outer surface spaced from said inner annular surface of said button a given distance; a disk of a lightly deformable material formed with a central aperture of a smaller diameter than that of said inner cylindrical surface of said button and having opposite side faces spaced from each other, when said disc is in unstressed condition, a distance greater than said given distance and an inner peripheral surface defining said aperture, said disk having an outer diameter larger than that of said second recess portion, being seated within said first recess portion, and having an inner annular peripheral portion extending through a substantial distance into said second recess portion with one of said side faces engaging said inner cylindrical surface of said button, with the other of said side faces engaging said outer surface of said tube, and with said inner peripheral surface of said disk spaced from and directed toward the bottom of said second recess portion; and a ring located completely within said first recess portion and engaging said disk to retain the latter in said annular recess whereby said annular peripheral portion of said disk is compressed between said inner annular surface of said recess and said outer surface of said tube.

3. In a watertight watch, in combination, a tube carried by and projecting from the case of the watch and communicating with the interior thereof; a winding and handsetting control button formed at its bottom face facing the watch case with a recess composed of a first large and shallow cylindrical recess portion and a second deep cylindrical recess portion of a diameter larger than the external diameter of said tube but smaller than the diameter of said first recess portion, said second recess portion extending coaxially to said first recess portion almost through the whole height of said button, said button including a cylindrical projection formed integral therewith and protruding from the bottom of said recess coaxially therewith within said tube towards said bottom face of said button, said projection being adapted for mounting said button for turning movement about said tube; a single packing disc of easily deformable material formed with a central circular opening of a diameter smaller than the outside diameter of said tube and being defined by an inner peripheral surface, said disc having opposite side faces spaced from each other a distance larger than the difference between the diameters of said second recess portion and said outside diameter of said tube when the disc is in unstressed condition, said disc having an outer annular portion seated in said first recess and an inner annular portion bent substantially normal to said outer annular portion and extending between the wall of said second recess portion and the exterior of said tube with one of said side faces engaging said tube and said inner peripheral surface spaced from and directed towards the bottom of said second recess portion, said inner annular portion being compressed between said tube and said wall of said second recess portion; and a ring pressed into said first recess portion over said outer annular portion of said disc for keeping said disc on its seat, the internal diameter of said ring being larger than the outside diameter of said tube.

4. In a watertight watch, in combination, a winding and hand-setting control button having a bottom face and being formed with a cylindrical recess extending from the bottom face thereof, said recess having adjacent said bottom face a first recess portion of a larger diameter than a second recess portion extending inwardly from said first recess portion and away from said bottom face; a tube carried by and projecting from the case of the watch into the recess of said button and having an outer diameter smaller than the diameter of said second recess portion; and a packing disc of deformable and compressible material being formed with a central circular opening of a diameter smaller than said outside diameter of said tube, said disc having opposite side faces spaced from each other a distance larger than the difference between the diameter of said second recess portion and said outside diameter of said tube when the disc is in unstressed condition, said disc having an outer annular portion seated in said first recess portion and an inner annular portion bent substatially normal to said outer annular portion and extending between the wall of said second recess portion and the exterior of said tube, said inner annular portion being compressed between said tube and said wall of said second recess portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,268,821 Depollier June 11, 1918 2,399,092 Bolle Apr. 23, 1946 2,405,087 Boninchi July 30, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 247,038 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1947 

